


Shoelaces

by TrickyVicky3



Series: Mitchell & Marks [1]
Category: Common Law
Genre: Gen, M/M, alex mcfarland mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-07 09:11:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4257675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrickyVicky3/pseuds/TrickyVicky3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a post on tumblr.</p><p>Every day Wes takes the tube to work then walks those final two blocks, and every day so does this asshole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wes

**Author's Note:**

> Wesvis Au, Chapter 1 = Wes' PoV. Chapter 2 = Travis' PoV.
> 
> Feedback is beautiful.

The man's shoelaces are undone.

Not just the shoelaces on the one shoe, oh no, that would be far too easy. And Wes is sure, in fact Wes is certain, that the man hasn't noticed, but no one can be this oblivious surely? 

Evidently this man can, not that Wes is surprised. Said man is walking a couple of metres in front of him, the same distance ahead he's walked every day for almost three months now, and that just isn't fair. Wes has walked this way for over three years, he could drive to work but Alex used to force him to take the tube then walk those final two blocks and even though they've been divorced for over a year, it's been ingrained in him.

So five days a week, he takes the tube then walks two blocks to his office, and five days a week, so does this man. He's a Detective, Wes is sure of it. He recognizes the confident swagger from the idiots he's had to deal with in Court, and that just makes Wes hate him even more. 

Well, hate is a stretch. But he's already over halfway to work, and the man still hasn't noticed his bloody shoelaces. He's half tempted to reach out, tap the man on his shoulder and tell him; but that would cross these invisible boundaries that Wes has created between them. 

He doubts the other man is even aware of Wes' presence half the time, the Detective's observation skills can't be too good, he thinks, not if he wears that awful leather jacket to work every day. And don't even get him started on the jeans, just how unprofessional can someone be?

He's still weighing up the pros and cons of telling the Detective about his shoelaces when the older man lets out a low wolf whistle at a petit, dark haired lady walking towards them, and shouts "Looking good today K!". Screw it, Wes thinks, turning and pushing through the revolving door of his office building. The man can trip on them for all he cares.

\---

Today the man stops. Every day they both walk the same route, past the same row of shop fronts and office blocks, and Wes has never known the man to stop, but today he does. It throws Wes off kilter and he's not sure whether he should continue walking past the man or not. Logically, he thinks, he should. He definitely should walk past him, why shouldn't he? 

But he doesn't. He deliberates for a split second before stopping himself, making an obvious show of checking his watch and straightening his cuffs. He checks his reflection in the shop window, eyes everywhere but on the detective's form, an advertisement for male underwear stares back at him from inside the window, and Wes blushes, looking away hastily.

Thankfully the man has now decided to carry on walking, but not before Wes sees the reflection of his eyes briefly in the next window, did he know they were blue? Surely he should've known that. The darker man ahead of him continues walking, shoulders raised a little higher than usual. Odd.

Well, Wes thinks, at least he tied his shoelaces today.

\---

The man's a child. There's no other way to put it really, other than that Wes has seen four year olds with better self restraint. And five year olds that are more mature 

It's raining today so naturally Wes has his umbrella up, pointed shoes deftly avoiding puddles. He's had to drop back a few metres though as every now and then, upon seeing a huge puddle before him, the idiotic detective jumps, yes, jumps, in it. Exactly like a child. If Wes needed any more proof of the other man's stupidity this is more than enough. 

He hates having to move to avoid the other man, he should just tell him to grow the fuck up. But he hasn't, and it's not that he doesn't want to, it's that it's raining, and he's cold and wet and miserable, and had a fight with Alex yesterday. 

And not one of those normal "It's my house my lawn Wes" fights, but a full blown "I want you out of my life" fight, and he's tired, too tired to be dealing with this asshole's childish behaviour. He keeps his head down, eyes tracking his shoes as he walks, so he misses the man turning shyly to look back at him.

\---

Wes is happy today, he's started looking at houses, bought a new suit AND started a new smoothie cleanse. He's got lots to be happy about.

He walks with a skip in his step, the sun shining down reflects his mood and he doesn't even care that he's starving, this latest cleanse driving him crazy, nothing's going to ruin his mood today. That is until he sees the Detective. He can't tell exactly what he's eating as he has his back to him, but if he had to hazard a guess, he'd say it was some sort of burger. And doesn't that just make his stomach growl.

But he refuses to give in, keeps his head held high and ignores the insistence of his stomach. Silently cursing the other man as he tightens his grip on his briefcase and keeps walking, letting the smell of beef waft past him. The delicious, mouth watering, succulent-. He stops his train of thought there. He has that kale smoothie to look forward to for lunch, yay. 

He tried to keep a lid on the sarcasm but even the voices in his head are telling him that that burger would be better than a kale smoothie any day, and it takes all his will power not to reach out and grab it, he'd only have to learn a little closer.

Wes snaps out of it when the man's phone rings, some irritating, repetitive pop tune Wes doesn't recognize. He falls back a couple of steps and wrinkles his nose in disgust as he answers the phone with his mouth full, "Detective Marks?". Or at least, Wes thinks he says 'Marks', he can't be too sure with all the food he thinks flies out of his mouth.

Ha. At least he was right in guessing the man's occupation, and he now has a name to put to the face. Detective Marks, it fits, but now he's aching to know the man's first name. He watches slyly as the man - Marks - nods rapidly, running off suddenly, stopping only to throw the rest of his burger in the bin.

Wes watches it go sadly. Six days to go, that's all. He can do this. His stomach growls loudly and he winces, rubbing his hand along his stomach. He was wrong, he can't do this.

\---

Marks isn't there. In the three months the Detective has been walking this way, he's never been late, never missed a day, but today when Wes exits the station he's not there. It's not like Wes is worried, of course he's not, he doesn't even know the man.

But Marks could've been shot. Or stabbed. He could've been killed yesterday and Wes wouldn't even know, might not ever know. He keeps his steps steady, controlling his breathing. The last thing he needs is to have a panic attack on the walk to work in the middle of the street because a stranger isn't walking to work.

He probably has the day off, or got sick; any manner of normal thing could have happened to him, but Wes reassures himself with the thought that he'll hack into the police database later. Just to check.

As it turns out, he doesn't have to, just as he crosses the street the Detective jumps in front of him, his hand a warm weight on his shoulder that sends Wes skidding to a halt. Bright blue eyes stare into his, sparkling with mirth, and Wes can't move. This is the first time they've ever made eye contact willingly, and Wes can't look away.

Marks grins, teeth flashing white in the bright sunlight and lets out a breathless laugh. Wes should be shaking off his touch, and he will, eventually... Detective Marks squeezes his shoulder and then at least has the decency to look sheepish, "I've been ahead of you for like two months now, like hell am I breaking my winning streak today". 

It's the first words that Marks has ever directed to him but Wes can do nothing more than nod, irritation prickling under his skin as Marks lets go of his shoulder. "Sorry man, have a good day yeah? See you tomorrow", and with that he saunters off, leaving Wes stood in the middle of the pavement like an idiot.

That's it, thinks Wes, I'm wearing running shoes tomorrow.


	2. Travis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's seen Mitchell before, and it's hardly his fault he finds the guy interesting.

He's seen the lawyer before, from a distance; recognizes him from his last big case as the guy who put the gentleman caller in prison. It was pretty impressive, the way he stood there impassively, shutting down the defence again and again - Travis has always admired that sort of thing. So he looks him up.

Wesley Mitchell, 28, divorced, graduated three years ago, top of his class. Huh, no surprise there. He doesn't know why he starts walking the same way Mitchell does every morning even though it adds on an extra fifteen minutes to his walk (well that's a lie, he does know why, he's just not going to admit it). 

The lawyer gets the subway first, but Travis doesn't need to, he doesn't live far. So he waits at the station till he spots a sharp suit and blond head in the crowd and he jumps into action, slyly slipping into place in front of him. 

He notices that Mitchell (Is it okay to call him Mitchell? He thinks, It's just that 'Wes' or 'Wesley' don't feel right as he's never actually talked to the guy, but 'the lawyer' sounds far too informal). Anyway, he notices that Mitchell is very uptight, always immaculately dressed, hair ridiculously, styled - even if it does look really soft. 

This one time Mitchell (okay it's starting to get annoying) almost got knocked over by a cyclist, and spent the next twenty minutes reciting road safety and why helmets should always be worn. He thought the guy was gonna cry right there and then, it was quite hilarious actually. He thinks he really shouldn't be this interested in a man he's never spoken to, but hey, the guy's interesting!

He knows his shoelaces are undone today but give him a break, Ellen left late this morning so he only had so long to get ready, it's not that big a deal, he is almost at work after all. But he can feel the heat of a glare being aimed at them, and smirks to himself, of course Mitchell would notice. 

He can practically feel the weight of the glare from the second he steps off the platform and onto the street. He considers slowing his pace to walk closer to the blond, to dare him to say something, but this train of thought is Interrupted when he spots Kendall walking towards them on the other side of the street.

He wolf whistles loudly, forgets all about the shoelace stand-off for a second and grins as she glares at him, "Looking good today K!" She huffs and ignores him, and all too late he remembers Mitchell, and turns quickly, an explanation on the end of his tongue.

All he's rewarded with is a view of the blond's back as he saunters through the revolving door of his office block. Shit, way to make an impression, Travis, well done! He looks down at his shoelaces and sighs, talking to yourself is the first sign you're going crazy idiot. He looks at Wes' building once more before continuing on to work, he's got a double homicide to look forward to.

\---

Paekman corners him that day and orders him to "Do something other than stalk the poor guy" - Not that Travis is stalking him, he's a police officer, he knows what stalking is. Although now he thinks about it (and by thinks he means he lists everything he's done since seeing the guy for the first time), it does probably class as stalking, huh, when did that happen?

So the next morning, about half way through their walk, he stops. It's a spur-of-the-moment decision that gives him about half a second to work out what to do. It's probably a bad idea, Mitchell is just gonna carry on walking, why wouldn't he? But he doesn't, he stops too.

Travis lets out a shuddery breath, and watches the guy out of the corner of his eye. He didn't stop because Travis stopped right? He stopped because he was... Ah yeah he's checking the time, alright that makes sense... But he doesn't continue, he fidgets awkwardly with his cuffs and turns minutely to look in the window.

Travis eyes the advertisement and grins inwardly at the half-naked male model spread eagle on a fluffy sofa, he then grins outwardly at the blush that spreads along Mitchell's face, he watches slyly as it moves down his neck, and wonders absentmindedly as to how far down it goes.

It's then he decides to keep walking, before his thoughts get him in trouble in public. For a split second the blond meets his eyes, and Travis' thoughts spark back to life at the sharpness of them, he feels Mitchell start walking a second after he does, and smiles, walking a little taller.

Well that was interesting.

\---

Mitchell looks like something straight out of 'Singing in the rain' with the sharp suit and matching - yes, matching! - umbrella, Travis half expects him to burst into a moving rendition of the timeless song, but he can see the look of disdain being thrown his way in Mitchell's reflection, and shelves the consideration for the time being.

He jumps in practically every puddle he sees, and rolls his eyes when Mitchell very obviously moves away from him, the guy needs to lighten up! Puddles are fun, he needs to let his hair metaphorically down. Talking of which, despite the umbrella, the guy's hair is definitely damp, and Travis kinda wants to run his hands through it. Kinda.

He can't check Mitchell's reflection too much, that would look suspicious, so he glances back every now and then real sneaky, proper Detective shit. Now he thinks about it, the guy looks down, sad even. The words 'pathetic fallacy' boom through his head in his high school English teachers voice and he sighs, wishing he could do something to cheer him up.

He turns his head slowly, and isn't sure if he's happy or not that Mitchell has his head down. He regrets not making conversation now, aching to make him feel better. He turns back around as they approach the revolving door and waits with baited breath till he hears the tell-tale squeak of someone pushing it, hopefully he'll be happier tomorrow.

\---

He skipped breakfast this morning after spending an hour breaking up with Ellen because she accused him of caring more about "the asshole lawyer" than he did about her, which, fair play, is kinda true. So he grabs a burger from a street stand, and heads over to sneakily watch Mitchell exit the train station so he can power walk in front.

He looks happier today which is awesome, but Travis can only hope it isn't because he met someone. Which is really mean actually, but he's never seen a wedding ring on the blond's finger, and he doesn't plan on seeing one any time soon.

The burger is delicious, and Travis can't understand why he's never eaten there before. Maybe Mitchell likes burgers! He could totally ask him out on a burger date although, come to think of it, a street burger stand doesn't seem the sort of place a person like Wesley Mitchell would visit often. And it would be an atrocious place for a first date.

He wonders what Mitchell actually eats to stay that lean, the dude looks like the sort of guy who would become invisible if he turned on his side! He keeps fit chasing bad guys, obviously (and those five day a week gym sessions definitely help) but Mitchell's a lawyer! Probably made a deal with the devil or something... Or he IS the devil! That would explain a lot...

His phone ringing startles him out of his head and he fumbles around in his pocket for it, cursing as he tries to move the burger without dropping it. "Detective Marks?" He answers, mouth full of food, Kate relays some new information that came in overnight on their homicide case and Travis nods hurriedly, listening carefully while unsuccessfully attempting to prevent any sauce from dripping down his chin.

Absentmindedly he wonders whether Mitchell knows he's a Detective, the guy looks very sharp, and he's a lawyer so he can probably read people. So yeah, on second thought, the guy definitely knew he's a cop, or at least, he does now. He throws the remains of his burger in a bin as he ends the call and starts running. He's gonna nail this bastard today if it kills him.

\---

They actually got the fucker. Fair play it's only been a couple of weeks but they actually got him! Travis got in at 6am last night, and while that's not unusual, he feels wide awake this morning as he heads to the precinct to fill in the final bits of paperwork that will ensure the bastard lives a horrible life behind bars for all eternity.

It's not until he spies Mitchell ahead of him that he realizes he's a few minutes later than usual, and the guy actually looks worried, bless. Years of being a super sneaky top Detective (Totally not bragging. Totally) disappear as he decides 'Fuck it', and runs up to the guy.

His hand curls around Mitchell's shoulder, the warmth radiating from under the blond's sharp suit a welcome heat in this cold weather. He's a tad shorter, which is quite annoying, but he's still able to gaze - no wait, there is no gazing - look? Yeah, he's still able to comfortably look into the guy's eyes.

Up close they're even sharper, cold blue like ice, and he doesn't care if that's an overused metaphor, it's true. He grins widely, a breathless laugh leaving his lips without permission as Mitchell does nothing, just stands there, looking back at him, expression revealing nothing. But he doesn't shake Travis' hand off, so he counts it as a win.

He squeezes Mitchell's shoulder, his grin turning sheepish as he realizes he's still got a hold of it. Not that that makes him let go. "I've been ahead of you for like two months now", he speaks, surprising himself, "Like hell am I breaking my winning streak today".

He lets go of Mitchell's shoulder when the guy nods sharply, a small smirk gracing thin lips. And it's then that Travis thinks maybe he shouldn't have grabbed his shoulder so abruptly, so he lets go and for the first time in his life (Cap would be impressed) he apologises "Sorry man", but he cant leave it like this, its weird now, oh god its weird now and it's his fault. 

So he continues, " Have a good day yeah? See you tomorrow", and leaves. Just walks off, like an idiot, leaving Mitchell stood in the middle of the street. Well, he supposes, it could have gone worse. 

And after all that, he can't wait to walk to work tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun, but also a challenge. Idk why but I feel like I write Wes better aha! 
> 
> Hope you guys like this part, feedback is beautiful <3


End file.
